Easy to support discipline; assault? Not so much

MRTMidland Reporter-Telegram

Published 7:08 am, Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Like many West Texans we were surprised by the headline "Mother charged in spanking."

Seriously?

Indeed, the Odessa American reported this past weekend that a 30-year-old Odessa woman was charged with injury to a child, a third-degree felony after police said her 11-year-old son reported she spanked him with a belt.

It became quite the conversation starter. How could law enforcement arrest someone for disciplining their child? That's not right.

Of course, the devil can be in the details. It wasn't just that this woman was arrested for disciplining her child or spanking her child. It was that this woman crossed the line. In fact, according to the Odessa American, "an arrest warrant affidavit stated Child Protective Services was investigating a case in early April and contacted Odessa police officer Mike Troglin. In the affidavit, the boy claimed his mother had spanked him at home with a belt for misbehaving at school, which had left "noticeable bruises to his leg, lower back, shoulder and left forearm."

We understand the need to discipline. We understand the Bible says "spare the rod and spoil the child." It was reported that according to section 9.61 of the Texas Penal Code, a parent still can perform physical discipline if the parent "reasonably believes the force is necessary to discipline the child or to safeguard or promote his welfare."

There is no confusion here.

What we don't get is "bruises to the leg, lower back, shoulder and left foreman." At some point parenting was thrown out the window and discipline turned into assault.

Yes, "adults have to control the force they used when disciplining a child," as an Odessa Police Department spokesperson told the Odessa American.

Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter said it well when he added, "there can be no serious damage to the child. That's when it becomes abuse."

We would add if a child's action got to the point where a parent felt the need to go beyond what is proper discipline, their attempts at proper parenting are a day late and a dollar short.